THIS work may be considered an abridgment of the Rauzatu-s
Safá. It was written by Mírkhond's son, Khondamír, whose
full name is Ghiyásu-d dín Muhammad bin Humámu-d dín.*

Khondamír was born at Hirát, about the year 880 H. (A.D.
1475), for he states in the Preface to the Habíbu-s Siyar, that
when he commenced it in the year 927 H., he had advanced
through seven or eight stages beyond the fortieth year of
his life.

From his early youth he showed a predilection for history,
and perused with indefatigable ardour books which treated of
that science; and guided by the example and advice of his
illustrious father, he prepared himself for the composition of
some work by which he might attain equal celebrity. In this
purpose he was assisted by the learned minister 'Alí Shír,*
who,
having collected a valuable library of the most esteemed works,
placed our author in charge of it. According to Hájí Khalfa,
it was about the year 900 H.,*
that Khondamír completed the
Khulásatu-l Akhbár, and at the close of it he gratefully acknow­ledges
that, had it not been for 'Alí Shír's considerate kindness
in placing him in charge of the library, he could not have com­pleted
in six years a tenth part of what he had concluded in as
many months, and to that excellent minister he gratefully
dedicated his work.

Khondamír was occasionally employed in a public capacity.
In the year 909 H., when Sultán Badí'u-z Zamán resolved on
repelling the Uzbeks, who were preparing to make an attack
upon Khurásán, under the command of Muhammad Shaibání
Khán, he despatched an embassy to Khusrú Sháh, the chief of
Kundúz, in order to invite him to join the common cause, and
to second the preparations which were making for the destruction
of this formidable enemy. Our author joined this embassy, and
was deputed by the head of the mission to convey certain im­portant
intelligence to the Sultán.

Under the reign of this Sultán, the last of the descendants
of Tímúr who sat on the throne of Persia, we find Khondamír
appointed to the office of sadr, or Judge of the Ecclesiastical
Court, a post which had been held by his uncle Nizámu-d dín
Sultán Ahmad; and shortly after he was commissioned by the
Sultán to proceed to Kandahár, to induce its ruler to join the
general league; but the death of one of the Sultán's daughters
at that time put a stop to his journey. Khurásán was soon
invaded by the Uzbeks, and in the year 913 (1507-8), the
capital itself, not being able to make any effectual resistance,
offered terms of submission. Khondamír drew up the conditions,
and his nephew was commissioned to negociate the surrender.

Under the rule of the Uzbeks, our author had to submit to
great indignities, and he was not sorry to see it overthrown by
the victorious arms of Sháh Isma'íl in 916 H. (1510 A.D.).
During the troubles of this period he went to reside at Basht, a
village in Georgia, and there devoted his leisure to literary pur­suits.
While in this retreat, he seems to have composed the
Ma-ásiru-l Mulúk, the Akhbáru-l Akhyár, the Dastúru-l Wuzrá,
the Makárimu-l Akhlák and the Muntakhab Táríkh-i Wassáf.*
He is found again as a negociator in 922 (1516 A.D.).

After the death of this monarch, A.H. 932 (1525-6), Khonda-mír
seems to have found little inducement to reside in Persia,
for in the year 935 H. (1528-9 A.D.), he was introduced to the
Emperor Babar at Ágra, and that monarch and our author concur
in mentioning the very day of the interview. At the conclusion
of the first volume of the Habíbu-s Siyar he tells us, “Under
the unavoidable law of destiny, the writer was compelled in the
middle of Shawwál, 933 H., to leave Hirát, his dear home (may
it ever be protected from danger!), and bend his steps towards
Kandahár. On the 10th of Jumáda-s sání, 934 H., he undertook
a hazardous journey to Hindustán, which, in consequence of the
great distance, the heat of the weather, the setting in of the
rainy season, and the broad and rapid rivers which intervened,
it took him seven months to complete. On Saturday the 4th
of Muharram, 935 H., he reached the metropolis of Ágra, and
on that day had the good fortune to strengthen his weak eyes
with the antimonial dust of the high threshold of the Emperor,
the mention of whose name in so humble a page as this would
not be in conformity with the principles of respect. He was
allowed, without delay, to kiss the celestial throne, which cir­cumstance
exalted him so much, that it placed the very foot of
his dignity over the heads of the Great and Little Bears in
the Heavens.”

He accompanied the Emperor on his expedition to Bengal,
and upon his death attached himself to Humáyún, in whose
name he wrote the Kánún-i Humáyúní, which is quoted by
Abú-l Fazl in the Akbar-náma. He accompanied that monarch
to Guzerát, and died in his camp in the year 941 H. (1534-5),
aged sixty-one or sixty-two years. At his own desire, his
body was conveyed to Dehlí, and he was buried by the side of
Nizámu-d dín Aulyá and Amír Khusrú.*
For the saint and
the poet he entertained a high veneration, and of both he speaks
in most eulogistic terms in the Habíbu-s Siyar.

The Khulásatu-l Akhbár is a most able compendium of Asiatic
history, brought down to A.H. 875 (A.D. 1471), but events are
recorded in it as late as A.D. 1528. It is held in high repute
both in Asia and Europe. A portion of the first book has been
translated in the first volume of the Asiatic Miscellany, and
the history of the Saljúkians has been given in original, with
a French translation, by M. Dumoret, in Nouv. J. As. xiii.
pp. 240-256. Major Price is largely indebted to it in his
Retrospect of Mahommedan History and his History of Arabia,
and D'Herbelot's*
obligations to it are still greater.

M. Charmoy has published the text, with a translation, of
Tímúr's expedition against Tuktamish Khán, of Kipchak,
in the Mem. de l'Acad. Imp. de St. Pétersbourg, 6me série,
tome iii.

The chapters relating to the Ghaznivides, the Ghorians, and
the kings of Dehlí, are contained in the eighth Book, and the
Indian occurrences are narrated down to A.H. 717 (A.D. 1317).
But we derive no information from his short abstract, he himself
referring for fuller accounts to the Tabakát-i Násirí, the Táríkh-i
Wassáf, and the Rauzatu-s Safá.

The Khulásatu-l Akhbár comprises an introduction, ten books,
and a conclusion. Size, large 8vo., 734 pages of 19 lines each.